The USAA Banking System is one that continues to need improvement from a usability, security and system integration perspective. The intent of this analysis is to discuss the positive and negative aspects of the USAA Banking System online and also make recommendation for its improvement. The recommendations include greater focus on international financial system integration and more intensive use of analytics to anticipate threats.
Online Banking
USAA Online Banking Analysis:
Assessment of Positive & negative Impacts & Recommendations
The USAA online banking system has been specifically designed to provide the financial institution's customers with reliable, secure and virtual access to their accounts and supporting banking transactions globally. Through the use of any Internet browser, USAA banking customers can quickly sign in, access and view account information, transfer funds, and set up and use automated payments for their personal and business-related bills. There are also a series of preferences which can be configured by customers to further tailor their online bank accounts to their specific needs. This is particularly useful for creating automated bill payment alerts and transactions to make sure bills are paid on or before the due date, new loan or savings accounts are securely created and managed, and enabling cash transfers to USAA and other financial institutions' accounts. One of the most challenging aspects of online banking as a business is the tailoring of services to the minimum expectations of customers while judiciously and intelligently adding new ones to retain them loyalty and the reduce customer churn (Chong, Ooi, Lin, Tan, 2010). It is estimated that nearly 60% of banking customers leave their existing bank for another every year globally, with online banking have higher churn rates that have been notes as high as 75% (Mavri, Ioannou, 2006). For USAA to continually build a successful business, they must mitigate churn levels by continually adding new features to the online banking application and in so doing creating a more valuable customer experience.
Positive And Negative Aspects Of The USAA Online Banking System
In assessing the USAA online banking system, both the positive and negative aspects of its attributes and performance have been analyzed. Progressing beyond the basic foundational elements of security and reliability, online banking systems are increasingly being design to support advanced banking workflows across a very broad range of mobile devices. The positive aspects of the USAA online banking system and others like them contribute to a more customer satisfaction and reduction of churn, yielding higher levels of profitability and lifetime customer value over time (Chong, Ooi, Lin, Tan, 2010).
The positive aspects of the USAA online banking system that are contributing to greater customer satisfaction and higher lifetime customer value include personalization of features and transaction workflows, greater convenience in terms of account accessibility across laptops, smartphones and tablets, augmented security including the option to create a unique sign-in seal for each type of account to eliminate phishing and social engineering approaches to stealing passwords. Social engineering is the most insidious form of security breach in that it attempts to mislead victims to provide their login and password information, in addition to highly confidential data including social security numbers (Claessens, Dem, De Cock, Preneel, Vandewalle, 2002).
From an accessibility standpoint, the USAA online banking web application is now available either directly from any web browser, from Apple IOS and Google Android applications as well. There are also accessibility options for the handicapped and those that require enhanced screen fonts and sound-based feedback to enable the disabled to also fully use the features of the USAA online banking systems as well.
A third significant benefit or positive aspect of the system is the augmented security that is designed into the USAA online banking system at the protocol and server level. This is specifically designed to ensure customers can reliably and securely access their accounts from any web browser, through their smartphone and tablet applications without risking having their data compromised. There is advanced authentication also defined using Secured Socket Layer (SSL) options in each browser supported, and implemented as a default feature of the Apple iOS and Google Android applications that USAA distributes free to customers. The bank also relies on advanced IPsec connections internally across Virtual private Networks (VPNs) that form the basis of its internal network that links regional offices and ATMs. IPsec has emerged as a standard in distributed banking networks as it is maps to the internet protocol (IP) address exactly, removing any potential for IP re-routing (Twum, Ahenkora, 2012).
The negative aspects of the USAA online banking system include the lack of integration to other, third-party banking systems, lack of consistency of SSL across all tablets and browsers, and the lack of advanced prediction analytics being used to anticipate potential security threats. The USAA online banking system does not today integrate with the broader banking networks globally, which makes money transfers across global regions very difficult. This lack of integration also costs customers a significant amount of time and cost. Second, the lack of consistent support for security standards on the Safari browser is significant and while the bank has issued a path for this, it is very difficult to find it on the site and to install it on legacy iPad and iPhones. Third, USAA could be using the massive amount of data they are capturing more effectively by creating predictive models and attempting to anticipate what kinds and types of breaches would occur when (Twum, Ahenkora, 2012). This is an evolving area today but one that the bank is slow to react to, further jeopardizing the security of customers.
Recommendations For Improvement (Note: This is the single page on recommendations your instructor asked for)
The USAA online banking system has several significant areas that need improvement. The top three areas of improvement that need urgent attention include having a consistent user interface across all web browsers, Apple iOS and Google Android applications consistent with each other in terms of features and transactions supported. Today each varies significantly, which makes it problematic for customers who use multiple devices or approaches to doing their online banking. Empirical studies have also shown that inconsistencies in user interfaces and application support have direct implications on the level of customers' trust in financial institutions including banks, and can lead to increased churn rates as well (Lim, Yeow, Yuen, 2010).
USAA online banking systems also aren't integrated into European and Asian banking systems, which makes transferring money to family and friends in foreign countries problematic and difficult. The depth of integration designed into an e-banking system is proportional to the level of cross-cultural adoption attained as each regional area of the world has drastically different data and banking standard requirements (Lim, Yeow, Yuen, 2010). Having greater integration across global banking systems would reduce churn and increase lifetime customer value over time as well.
You’re 83% through this paper. Sign up to read the full paper.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.